The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to labels and more particularly to labels applied to machinery to provide identification of the machinery and the components parts thereof.
There is an ever increasing demand for product labeling for both domestic and international trade driven by each country's individual regulatory body. These country-specific regulations produce significant complexity in the product label design and supply chain management, especially for producers of heavily regulated products like medical devices, as well as in the aviation and nuclear industries.
For companies that ship products globally, these requirements are met using country-specific labels applied to the exterior or body of the product to provide identifying information about the product as determined by the requirements or regulations of the country to which the product is to be shipped. These labels not only require the information about the product but often must be printed in the local language of the country into which the products are to be shipped. Further, the labels often have to include information not only about the end product itself, but about various component parts utilized in the assembly of the product, such as X-ray tubes in diagnostic imaging machines. For example, under the FDAs Unique Device Identification rules, all labels for certain medical devices include information that is standardized to relate serial numbers of the components of the devices to the serial number of the overall device including those components, which can be accessed via a Global UDI Database in which information on the device having the UDI is stored.
To address these labeling requirements, the manufacturing plant from which the finished product originates has to store and maintain hundreds of kinds of labels corresponding to the different countries to which the product(s) are to be shipped. So when a finished product is produced, the destination country of the product is identified in a late point configuration where country specific software is loaded onto the product and the appropriate country-specific labels are attached to the product.
One significant drawback with regard to this labeling process is that the labels themselves are conventional adhesive-backed paper labels. The adhesive backing on these labels has a shelf life that limits the length of time the adhesive can reliably adhere to the surface of the product in order to present the required information on the label to the purchaser. Also, the nature of the paper forming the printed surface of the label also limits the ability of the labels to endure certain conditions that can degrade the integrity of the label and/or legibility of the information printed on the label. For example, should the label become wet and/or be frictionally contacted by or rubbed against another surface, the printed information on the label can easily become illegible and/or separated from the remainder of the label remaining on the product, rendering the label completely ineffective for its express purpose. Further, with regard to the amount of information that is to be provided via the label, the size of the machine presents a limiting factor with regard to the size of the label, and thus the amount of information that can be presented on the label.
In addition, separately from the issues concerning the structure of the labels, the printing of the proper country-specific information on the labels can be a very mistake prone operation. If incorrect information is printed on a label, the correction of the label can cause a great deal of reworking to correct or provide a substitute for the label. Additionally, if the incorrect label is applied to a product that is subsequently shipped, field engineers often must track down the product in the field to make the label correction. This also can occur even if the information is correct initially, but a replacement part for the product is installed, thereby requiring the information on the label to be updated.
Therefore, to address these issues it is highly desirable to develop a labeling system, device and method of use that more easily allows for required labeling information to be applied to a product and to be corrected on the product if a mistake or update of the information on the label is required.